<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="2" >▎ From endangered to vulnerable, what exactly did the European bison experience? </h1>
Author/Zhang Taolahan
In the bovine family, there is one animal that dominates the European continent with its strong body, strong muscles and super heavyweight weight, and they are the European bison.
The European bison are majestic and muscular, their towering backs are like steel ridges, the horns on the top of their heads are like shining steel forks, and their straight four-legged steel nails are stepping on the solid earth, and their whole bodies are full of vitality, containing strength that is difficult for us to reach.
Figure 01: The European bison has a robust body
Hunting, farming, cooking, leather, even literature, painting, art... The Figure of the European Bison has been widely active in all aspects of human society. Their powerful bodies, like perfect ancient Greek statues, have a strong totem and symbolism, and are really loved by us.
The European bison, which once shone brightly in history, has long since fallen to the altar. Their population size and survival are like roller coasters, experiencing continuous and deadly rapid drops after a soaring day, even reaching the bottom of the valley, almost endangered!
What did their twists and turns go through?
Figure 02: Let's walk into the story of the European bison together
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="13" > the heaviest terrestrial organism in Europe</h1>
The European bison, scientific name Bison bonasus, belongs to the genus Bison bonas of the genus Even-hoofed, named and classified by Sir Carl Linnaeus, the "father of taxonomy", in 1758.
They are one of the only surviving species in the genus Bison and are very closely related to the American bison. Adult European bison, with a body length of about 2.9-3 meters, a shoulder height of about 1.8-2 meters, and a weight of up to 300-1000 kg, are generally considered to be the heaviest land animals in all of Europe.
Covered in golden brown, dark brown, tan and black hair, European bison have a broad forehead, a back towering like a mountain, and a large front half of the body, which is the center of gravity of the entire body.
Figure 03: A young European bison (male)
Their short, thick neck muscles are strong, connecting and driving solid skulls, and their slightly curved, sharp horns. During the breeding season, when two males compete for females, bulls look at each other and catch each other.
Only to see their skulls collide, against the top of the sharp horns to provoke each other, the vacated front legs like rising springs, the strong hind legs like a fully powered engine, providing them with forward jumping to the top, leaning down and pressing down and other pleasing to the eye, but also extremely fierce fighting stunts.
Figure 04: Wherever the European bison stops, it is fierce
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="23" > herds of cattle and bachelors</h1>
In the wild, although we often see lone bulls wandering away from home and wandering around, most European bison are still used to living in groups. Their social settlements are mainly divided into two types: mixed herds and bull herds.
Mixed herds of European bison tend to be 8-13 heads, consisting of bull leaders, cows, young calves aged 2-3 years and temporarily joined bulls. The bull herd is made up entirely of bachelors and is smaller than the mixed herd, usually around 1-11 heads.
Figure 05: Mixed herd of bison inhabiting the wild
It is worth mentioning that the mixed herd and the bull herd are not static, and their size, the number of groups and the membership of the group will continue to change with the changes of region, environment and season.
Just like the company system, the new friends who have entered the company have seen the moon and the old friends who have entered the company go year after year, which is the so-called iron battalion and flowing soldiers. The bull, who is still serving as an official and a half-job in the mixed group this year, may be sealed with gold and sealed next year to become a wanderer.
Figure 06: Stray bulls foraging alone in winter
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="32" > super heavyweight herbivore</h1>
Well, it is worth mentioning that as a super heavyweight herbivorous warrior, the European bison especially likes the crisp taste of the plant's young buds, and also likes the leaves rich in moisture and nutrients.
Thanks to their rumen and rumination habits, The European bison are endless as soon as they eat. 1-year-old calves can eat 8.5 kg of fresh grass leaves every day, young cows aged 2-3 can eat 19-28 kg of food per day, and adult cows can eat food weighing up to 32 kg a day!
In other words, a simple analogy for humans, that is, a person has to eat a whole bag of rice packed with 25kg a day, and then 10 cans of 500g of canned meat, it is not too addictive, and then mention 4 bottles of 450ml of liquor, Gollum A brain is all dry! Such a huge amount of food, it is almost scary to death baby ~ ~ ~
If you think about it, if you encounter more than 10 European bison in groups, then the grasslands and bushes of woods on their way must not be eaten to the point of no hair! After all, 32kg/cow/day is by no means generic.
Figure 07: Spitting out a blue tongue, a European bison regurgitating
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="40" > the rise and fall of bison in Europe</h1>
Historically, European bison have inhabited vast areas of Europe and have large populations, just like the American bison before the age of discovery. Their habitat stretches from the central plateau of France to the Volga and Caucasus Mountains, and may have at one time included parts of Russia east of the Ural Mountains.
They are the largest wildlife in Belarus, or even in eastern Europe as a whole. With their large bodies and strong muscular deterrent power, the European bison has a good time in the local area, with only two natural enemies of the wolf and the bear.
Figure 08: Two bulls dueling
But as the human population grew, forests were cut down and destroyed, and the habitat of the European bison gradually shrunk. During the Vikings' ravage and conquest of the Middle Ages, they were often hunted for their high-quality fur and horns. People make their fur into leather and sweaters, cut off their horns, hollow them out and make them into exquisite horn cups.
In the Balkans, the most recent record of European bison appears in the 3rd century AD, near the junction of Greece, the Republic of North Macedonia and Bulgaria, where the Gallic population of European bison became extinct in the 8th century.
In the Ardennes and Vosges Mountains, European bison became extinct in the wild in the 15th century. In Transylvania (now part of Romania), the last wild bison died in 1790.
Fig. 09: Newborn calves
In Eastern Europe, the European bison has always attracted much attention. They are the property of Polish, Lithuanian and Russian monarchs and are protected by the laws of the state. King Sigmund I of Poland issued a decree in the mid-16th century that "all those who poach European bison are lowly thieves who flout the laws of the royal family and shall be sentenced to death!" ”。
Despite the king's strong support and a series of legal measures to protect it, the number of bison in Europe continued to plummet over the next four centuries.
The last wild European bison in Poland was killed in 1919, while the last wild European bison in the world was killed by butchers in the West Caucasus in 1927. Fewer than 50 European bison remained at that time, all of which were kept in zoos.
Figure 10: European bison that are wild and numbered
In 1951, realizing that things were not going well, humans began to release European bison back into nature. Wild European bison began to recuperate in the game reserves of various countries, but they were only found in places such as the West Caucasus, Russia, Poland and Belarus.
Interspersed with words, people in Central and Eastern Europe are very fond of this sturdy and powerful animal, the Soviet Union even issued a set of stamps themed on the European bison in 1969, Russia, Belarus, Romania have also issued European bison stamps, their love for this cow is evident.
Figure 11: European bison stamps issued by the Soviet Union
Figure 12: European bison stamps issued by Belarus
Figure 13: Commemorative Stamp of the European Bison issued by Russia and the WWF
Figure 14: European bison stamps issued by Romania in 2019
Since the IUCN designated the European bison as endangered in 1996, countries have introduced active conservation programs to artificially breed and release European bison. In 2000, the world's European bison population began to slowly recover and steadily recover, in addition to being introduced to zoos in more than 30 countries, people also found herds of bison in Lithuania, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan and other Central and Eastern European countries.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="61" > the survival of European bison is still in danger</h1>
In 2008, the IUCN finally identified the European bison from an endangered species to a near-threatened species. Although, from the current point of view, their living conditions have improved and are gradually stabilizing.
But in fact, there are still a large part of the European bison community in the wild that is not in good condition, and the population continues to decline. Realistically, they are not completely free from their former endangerment.
Figure 15: Herds of bison in the snow and ice
We live in a complex world that is interconnected and influences each other.
We take all the measures we take against the European bison: such as continuous and aggressive conservation efforts, a crackdown on illegal poaching, and media discourse advocating for care and attention... Every step of the way and every action is crucial and will have a huge impact on the future survival of the European bison.
Figure 16: Let's pay more attention to and love the European bison
*Some of the images in this article are for illustrative purposes only and are not all Bison bonasus.
All the pictures in this article are from the Internet If the rights of the owner are infringed, I apologize and will be deleted quickly
Original author of this article / Zhang Taolahan 丨 Writing is not easy Unauthorized reprinting is prohibited
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